The Set Up
by Amethyst Daydreamer
Summary: Dick thinks that Tim could use a hand.


This is a piece of Fan Fiction inspired by by the new episode of Young Justice and the great Fan Arts that have come from it. This is unbeta'd but has been edited. Hopefully it isn't too awful.

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"You might want to wipe your chin, Robin. You've got a little drool there."

Tim's head snaps up. "What?!"

Dick smirks as he leans on the kitchen counter next to him. "You know, you could always just take a picture, it'd last longer and be less embarrassing than getting caught staring."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tim blushes and turns his attention to the yogurt with granola and fruit that he'd been trying to eat before Conner had walked in from the training room.

"Oh please. I think that crush of yours can be seen from space. Why don't you just go talk to him? I don't know how he'd react… the topic never really came up before but you won't know until you try." Dick nudges Tim and gestures towards Conner with his chin.

"No way! He's Superboy. He went out with M'gan. No. Just no." Tim hisses the words to his brother before chancing a glance at Conner.

Dick smirks at when Tim realizes that Conner is looking right at him. Which means… "He can hear every word we're saying, can't he?!" Tim turns to see his brother's face break into a full mischievous smile. "Oh god. I'm to to my room to finish my homework." Tim pushes his breakfast away and quickly walks away in the direction of his room.

Later, while the others are gathered for lunch Tim sneaks into the training room to run through his usual training routines in hopes of avoiding Dick and Conner. He chalks his hands and hoists himself up onto the high bar to begin. Tim's back is to the door as he works through the tough routine that Dick has him doing to work on his flexibilty so he falls from the high bar when he suddenly hears a voice right behind him.

"Hey, Robin."

A moment later, Tim finds himself caught by something hard and warm but not the floor- definitely not the floor. He opens his eyes to find himself in Superboy's arms. How embarrassing. He can feel his face heat as he scrambles out of Conner's arms.

"Uh, s-sorry. Didn't hear you come in. Ah, thanks for not letting me hit the floor." Tim runs a hand through his cropped hair and tries to look anywhere but at Conner. "Did you want the training room? I can finish this later…" Tim trails off continuing to fidget uncomfortably.

"No. You can finish. I was just going to watch you work for a while, if that's okay with you?" Conner has a nearly Batman worthy poker face. Tim doesn't know what he's thinking. He's never paid any attention to Tim before.

"Oh. Okay. Um, sure." Tim turns around and rechalks before jumping up to grab the bar. It takes him a couple of tries before Conner leaves his spot next to the mats and comes to stand right behind Tim. His breath is warm in Tim's ear as he speaks.

"I can lift you up there you know. I've helped Nightwing before. Back when he was Robin. He wasn't very good at using the springboard thing either." Conner firmly but gently grabs Tim's waist and lifts him until he can firmly grab the bar.

"Thanks." Tim flushes and pretends to pay an inordinate amount of attention to adjusting his grip while Conner reclaims his seat on the floor next to the mats.

After a deep breath, Tim resumes his routine. Superboy sits silently watching as Tim goes through his entire bar routine. It's fairly simple but strenuous. It's supposed to help him gain flexibility and the muscles he needs. He ends with his hand stand before flipping off of the bar and onto the landing mat. Dripping sweat, Tim wanders over to his towel and water. He sees Conner still sitting and watching. Checking the clock over the door, Tim decides that he has enough time to do the rings if he only does it once through.

Turning to Conner, he steels his nerves before asking him for help onto the rings. "Could you lift me up onto the rings, Conner?"

Superboy just stands and positions himself behind Tim again. But this time, Tim feels the heat of the body behind him as he's lifted slowly up to the rings. Every inch of his back brushes against Conner's body. There's no reason for Conner to be holding him so closely. None at all. It serves only to unnerve Tim, who rushes through his short routine on the rings. He finishes with a flourish and gathers his towel and water.

"Nightwing talked to me earlier. I was wondering if you had a minute to talk." Conner appears right behind Tim. He nearly drops his water.

Swallowing hard, he turns to look at Conner. "Oh. I- I guess so. I was just going to shower. It can wait." Here it comes, Tim thinks to himself. He's going to give me that "I'm flattered but…" speech. Sighing, he follows Superboy to sit in the bleacher like area on the far side of the room.

Conner remains silent at first, and in no rush to get let down easy, Tim waits for the bomb to drop.

"I heard what you were saying to Nightwing at breakfast this morning." Conner is looking intently at Tim. He feels a bit like he's under a microscope.

"Oh. I see." Tim looks down at his bottle of water.

"You left breakfast pretty quickly too. You didn't mean for me to hear you." Both statements sound like statement and not questions but Tim feels the need to speak.

"No. I didn't." Tim clenches his hands around his water.

"Nightwing said that you… you like me. That you're afraid to say anything to me." Conner pauses. "He also said you'd be in here during lunch and that I should go talk to you."

Tim realizes that lunch is long over and no one has entered the training room. He's been set up. Dick KNEW that Conner would hear their conversation at breakfast and he sent Conner to corner him in the training room while Dick kept the others out. Damn. He's so busy plotting Dick's demise that Tim nearly misses what Superboy says next.

"I don't mind, you know. It doesn't bother me." He can't have said that, Tim thinks.

"Come again?" Tim looks up at Conner, astonished.

"It doesn't bother me. I've never really thought about it before but I don't- I'm not bothered by the thought of another guy. I mean, you're very attractive Tim. Intelligent, talented and nice. I can appreciate that about you. And just now, watching you, I didn't find the thought of being … with you… upsetting. Dick gave me a lot to think about this morning. I realized that I wasn't attracted to M'gan solely because she was female but because of all of the things that made her who she is." Conner looked confused and uncomfortable.

"What are you saying?" Tim's mouth is dry and his words come out softer than he'd intended.

"I think we should get to know one another. I don't have any experience with dating outside of the time I spent with M'gan. Maybe Dick's right and she wasn't what I needed. I won't know unless I try."

"Are you asking me out?" Tim drops the water bottle and stares, slack jawed.

"Um. I guess so?" Conner looks at him. "I thought we could just go out for burgers tonight, Dick said you had the night off unless something happened here?"

Tim isn't sure whether to thank Dick or strangle him. "Yeah. Sure. Batman is up at the Watchtower in meetings tonight so no patrol." Tim continues to stare at Conner, not sure if this is really happening.

"Okay. I'll meet you at the Zeta tube at 6? I know this great diner in Metropolis." Conner gives Tim a small smile and leaves the training room.

Tim stares after him for a moment before recalling the cause of the awkward conversation he just had. Stomping from the room as he plots Dick's demise, Tim jumps when he hears Dick calling his name.

"Hey Timmy, what's up?" Tim turns to see Dick sitting against the wall just outside the training room. Effectively eavesdropping and keeping others from interrupting.

Tim storms up to Dick, standing between the man's outstretched legs. He leans over and pokes Dick in the chest, absolutely livid. "You know exactly "what's up" Dick! You sold me out! You set me up! You knew he would hear this morning. You went out of your way to tell him about my feelings. You sent him after me and you even told him to ask me out! What is NOT up, Dick?!"

"Keep your voice down, Timmy. Come on. Let's get you to the showers. You smell worse than Killer Croc right now. I was only trying to help." Dick stands and pulls Tim along behind him.


End file.
